I Love You
by piper maru duchovny
Summary: My first d/j fic. Written for AndreaKayy


**A/N: For Andrea, because she has powerful forms of persuasion. =D Plus, deep inside, I love Dawson and Joey. BTW Gale is not remarried in this story, cause honestly I never liked that. I don't think she would get over Mitch, not so much that she felt comfortable dating again.**

**Disclaimer: Naht Mine, poo.**

"Dawson's here! Dawson's here!" Lily Leery yelled, her blond hair flying behind her as she bounded down the stairs. Gale smiled from her spot in the kitchen, placing her towel on the counter, she joined Lily in the foyer. The door opened and in walked Dawson, "Dawson, Dawson, Dawson!" Lily chanted as her big brother dropped his bag, picking his little sister up.

"Lily, Lily, Lily." Dawson teased and kissed her forehead.

"I missed you Dawson." Lily clung to his neck. Dawson was the closest thing she had to a father figure and she rarely saw him due to his job in LA.

"I missed you too Kiddo." Dawson said, shifting Lily to one hip so he could give his mother a hug.

"Welcome home Dawson." Gale smiled, glad to have her son back, even if it was just for a few weeks while The Creek was on hiatus.

"Dawson guess what?" Lily said as she poked Dawson's cheek, "Joey's comin' over for dinner and she's bringin' Alex with her!" Lily grinned. Alexander Potter was her best friend and the two were as close as Joey and Dawson once were.

"Really? Well that's cool." Dawson said as he set Lily down.

"Joey's been coming over a lot...since her and Pacey.." Gale trailed off.

"The divorce. Right."Dawson sighed, the group had pretty much fallen apart in the last several years, most tragically of all the Dawson, Joey, Pacey trio. Dawson had stayed away when Joey and Pacey got married. Then just a few months ago, Joey caught Pacey cheating on her with a co-worker from the restraunt. Since then Joey and Dawson had been talking on the phone occasionally and Dawson would be lying if he said that Joey wasn't a part of his reason for coming home.

"Dawson?" Lily asked, looking up at her big brother, "Will you watch ET with me?" Lily had developed her brother's Spielberg obsession. Though, she didn't want to work with movies when she got older, she'd much rather write. A hobby she had picked up from Joey.

"Sure kid, go set it up." Dawson instructed.

"How are you sweetheart?" Gale asked looking at her son, it was unfathomable just how much he'd grown up in the last several years. Long gone was the dreamer who's room was coated with Spielberg posters, the college boy getting his life together was a thing of the past, before her stood a man. A successful, movie maker from Hollywood, California. The man who managed to escape the small town and actually stay away.

"I..I'm good. It feels good to be home. I actually miss this place." Dawson admitted, he picked up his bag, "I am gonna go dump this stuff in my room. What time is Joey getting here?"

"I told her around six." Gale explained and Dawson nodded, running up the stairs.

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As the credits to ET rolled there was a knock at the door and Lily sprinted to answer it, "Hi Alex." She said when she opened the door.

"Hey Lily. Look what I just got!" Alexander said and held up a Spiderman comic book.

"Cool!" Lily exclaimed and grabbed Alexander's hand, dragging him up the stairs to her room.

"Your nephew is corrupting my sister." Dawson said jokingly as he got up from the couch, he smiled when he saw Joey, she still looked the same. Her brown hair was still long and wavy, she still smiled the same sad smile.

"Hey Dawson." Joey grinned as she hung up her coat. She walked over to her best friend and hugged him tightly.

"Hi Joey." Gale smiled from her spot in the hallway.

"Hey Gale, thanks for having us over for dinner. I know Bess appreciates having two fewer mouths to feed." Joey laughed, the Potter B&B was running at it's peak.

"You know you're welcome here whenever you want." Gale smiled, Joey was like a daughter to her, she always had been. Joey nodded her head ever so slightly and Gale nodded back, turning and going back to finish dinner.

"So how are you!?" Dawson asked, wrapping his arms around his best friend and not wanting to let go.

"I'm okay." Joey mumbled into his chest, her arms wrapped tightly around Dawson's mid section.

"Jo..."

"Really Dawson." She moved her head to look up at him.

"You're not fine, but I don't want to fight, so I'll let it go for now." Dawson said as he traced the back of his finger over her cheek bone, tracing the invisible track of the tears she'd been crying.

"You know me too well Leery." Joey shrugged and let him go, walking over to the couch and sitting down.

"That I do, Jo, that I do." Dawson smiled and sat down next to her, resting against the arm of the couch so he could face her.

"Your Mom has been great ya know? I've missed coming over here. I was bringing Alex over to see Lily and she invited me to stay and it's been hard to leave ever since." Joey admitted, not looking him in the eye, instead staring out the window and out to the dock.

"I'm glad you feel that comfortable here, still, after all these years." Dawson wanted her to know that she never had to leave, that for as long as she wanted she always had a place she could come to, but those were words he couldn't allow himself to speak.

"Doesn't it seem like a million years, Dawson?" Joey asked, "I mean, here we are. Basically both thirty. Was it really only fourteen years ago that I stood outside on that dock, playing the victim in the Creature from the Deep?"

"I know what you mean." Dawson told her, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees, "It's so weird to think that none of us really talk anymore. I mean we've all sorted formed are own subgroups. Jack is with Doug and they have a kid. Albeit the fact that it's not theirs but still. Jen's dead. Pacey is well Pacey. Probably on his boat somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Andie is still in Europe after all these years..."

"But then there is you and me." Joey smiled at him.

"The two who never change."

"I think we've changed. We're not the same kids we were Dawson. I don't crawl through your window anymore. You don't follow me around like a lost puppy dog." Joey commented.

"Yeah, but not that much has changed. We're both still sitting here." Dawson smiled, he truly missed Joey. She was his other half, even if they weren't together, they were together.

"Dinner!" Gale called from the kitchen. Dawson stood up and extended a hand to Joey, which she accepted. Hand in hand they walked to the dinner table.

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After dinner, Lily and Alexander took their places on the couch and turned on The Creek. Dawson grabbed Joey's hand and lead her outside, unable to watch his own work, "Let's walk."

"But Dawson! I wanted to see what happened next." Joey whined.

"You know what happened next. You've lived it." Dawson told and Joey grinned. Together they walked down to the dock, looking out onto the creek.

"I've missed you Jo." Dawson said softly, not turning his face to meet hers.

"I've missed you too Dawson." Joey said just as softly.

Dawson took a chance and glanced at her, "One thing hasn't changed over the years."

"What's that?" Joey looked at him and Dawson reached out, tucking a piece of brown hair behind her ear.

"I still love you."

"Daw..." Joey trailed off.

"No, Jo, listen to me." Dawson practically pleaded, "It's always been you and me. I still love you. I've never stopped loving you, not for one single second. Every moment away from you, whether you believe it or not has been living hell for me. I am sick of fighting what's there Joey and you can't tell me you don't feel the same way! It's messy sometimes, but we're adults now. We could do this and we could make it work...Cause Jo. I love you and I know you love me, it's as simple as that."

"Dawson..."Joey looked up with tear filled eyes, she took a step closer, "I do love you. I've always loved you. It's just never been the right time for us."

"Maybe the time is now Jo. I don't want to look back on this in ten years and wonder how it might of been different if we had tried." Dawson told her.

"Dawson, just kiss me already." Joey grinned at him. Dawson obliged, leaning forward, capturing Joey's lip with the both of his, hands weaving into her hair, pulling her as close as humanly possible. Joey kissed him back with equal force, arms wrapped around his neck, wanting him closer to her.

"I love you." Dawson whispered breathlessly as he pulled away.

"I love you too Dawson."

**A/N: Ok, it's short and I am sure it sucked, but this was my first Dawson/Joey fic, I had a little trouble getting their dialogue right. Anyways, no beta. This was purely for fun and for Andrea LOL. so REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW and I'll give you a cookie =D**


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